Booked Alaska

I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm taking a getaway vacation without Angie or the kids. I've gone away with Angie alone, I've gone away with Cassie alone, and I'm planning trips alone with the kids, but I've never gone anywhere without anyone from the house - except business travel. And that's why I have had no desire to do so - I get too many breaks from the kids and Angie as it is, why would I want to take more without them?

That will end this year, as a colleague (mentor) at work and I are going up to Alaska for fishing and siteseeing in August. We've booked the flights and are now booking the fishing, the siteseeing, hotels, etc.

Angie has taken weekends with her girl friends, but this is new for me. I think she understands that I'm going to need a break come August from all my schooling, and this opportunity was something that I couldn't pass up.

On August 2, we will fly from Dallas to Anchorage. We'll spend the night in Anchorage before driving the several hour drive from Anchorage to Denali and will take a day trip into the park. Because the roads are only accessible by permit, we'll take a tour into the interior of the park.

The next day we'll travel back to the Kenai peninsula and into Seward for a cruise tour of the fjords. Hopefully we'll see some killer whales, humpbacks and maybe even an iceberg being calved.

That night we'll drive from Seward to Homer to finish our trip with two days of Halibut fishing. That's one of the main reasons we are going - to stock up our freezers with hundreds of pounds of halibut meat that goes for $20/lb down here.

I can't wait, and will be counting the days till departure. I'll also have to take the kids somewhere fun to make up for this. Perhaps Disney is in our immediate future.

SL